"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)

Thursday, April 9, 2015

The Castro Regime's idea of dialogue: The monologue of the closed fist

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. - George Orwell

Today nonviolent dissidents, representing independent civil society from Cuba, sought to engage in a dialogue with representatives of the dictatorship who claimed to be civil society. The Miami Herald reported that the "Panamanian government extended an invitation to all sectors of Cuba’s civic society to participate in the hopes of an unedited dialogue, in celebration of the resumed relations between the U.S. and Cuba." Panama’s Vice President and chancellor, Isabel Malo de Alvarado, called on all the involved parties to “listen to each other within the frame of respect.”

The Herald explained that the response of the Castro regime delegation on Wednesday, was to not attend the inauguration of the Civic Society Forum stating it: “will not share the same space as mercenaries and terrorists”. Today "activists Rosa Maria Paya, daughter of murdered opposition leader Oswaldo Paya, and Lillian Tintori, wife of imprisoned Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez were welcomed by screams and insults at the Civic Society Forum.

Over twitter at 11:43am today Rosa María Payá tweeted "Cuban delegation official still impedes initiation of the start of the panel" along with the above photograph. Two minutes later and another tweet: "Cuban officials begin violence and police at the door do not enter." In the next tweet she posted the photo below of Cuban GONGOs holding up a publication slandering dissidents and shouting "mercenaries must get out."

El Nuevo Herald in an exclusive interview with Abel Prieto, Cuba’s former minister of culture and adviser to Raúl Castro, learned that the Castro regime had turned down the opportunity to debate with critics. Prieto, who is the president of the official delegation of the Cuban dictatorship in the VII Summit of the Americas and was also present during the aforementioned acts slandered dissidents who were attending the forum when he stated:

"It’s not possible to ask Cuba to dialogue with puppets of these special services agencies in the U.S. We can’t legitimize that opposition which is absolutely fabricated; it doesn’t have any weight, it doesn’t have any real connection to our society. It’s just people who are seeking a way of life."

"This has nothing to do with acts of repudiation. I mean, I don’t know, for me it has nothing to do with that, and there’s no fanatics here. There’s people who are intelligent, a lot more intelligent…those mercenaries have to be born again to reach the most minimal level of decency and intelligence that is found within the Cuban delegation. They’re not fanatics, or people who yell often: they yell because they feel offended."

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, in his address following the walk out of Castro regime representatives said that governments "must not fear the empowerment of
civil society that is called to play a watchdog role on governance." However for a totalitarian dictatorship such as the one that has ruled in Cuba for 56 years all power is centralized in the Communist party and more specifically in the Castro family. This regime operates with complete impunity and with a monopoly control of the national media and all other political parties outlawed by the imposed communist constitution. It has also sought to crush an manifestations of independent civil society, refusing to legally recognize them and subjecting them to repression.

Beginning in the 1970s the Castro regime has sought to appropriate the word dialogue in what in practice is a regime monologue that is the opposite of what the word means. This has had a negative impact on public discourse. In July of 2004 the late Bishop Agustin Roman wrote about
the necessity of rescuing, a word that he described as beautiful, but
that had been twisted by the dictatorship in Cuba:

"It's good thatto startthis effort,the true meaning ofthe word dialogue be rescued. We have allwitnessed themisrepresentation ofthis beautifulword, thanks tothe manipulationsofthe dictatorship that has wanted to use itfor its own purposes, andalso thanks to some complying withthe Castro lexicon, perhaps without noticingwhere the misrepresentation comes from,seem content to have themstealthe dictionary,the same ones whopreviouslystole ourhomeland."

The word dialogue has a long history and to have arisen in the West with Plato and the Greeks over 2,400 years ago. The root meaning of the word dialogue is formed by two words dia and logos which literally means 'two way flow/exchange' of meaning.This is precisely what the dictatorship in Cuba fears most because in a two way dialogue where different ideas and opinions can be expressed the edifice of the totalitarian regime begins to dissolve into nothingness as society, long repressed begins to emerge from its long and forced hibernation.

This existential threat to totalitarianism terrifies the Castro clan and their regime agents who benefit from the current status quo. This is why what the regime calls dialogue in reality is the monologue of the closed fist and unfortunately over the past 56 years it has been used to beat down those who peacefully dissent.

Yesterday it was seen dramatically at Porra park in Panama City when a group of Cuban dissidents from the diaspora and the island sought to lay flowers before a bust of Jose Marti and were subjected to a violent act of repudiation by Castro regime state security. Carlos Alberto Montaner reported on twitter: They have identified the ringleader of the attacks on Cuban democrats in Panama. It is Col. Alexis Frutos Weeden, head of Cuban intelligence in Venezuela.